Border Bruins re-sign coach

The Grand Forks Border Bruin Association is pleased to announce that the team has reached a multi-year agreement with head coach and general manager Emery Olauson.

In his first year coaching the Bruins, Olauson led the 2015-2016 team to their first playoff appearance in 19 years. The Bruins had a season record of 23-24-5, finishing third in the five-team Neil Murdoch division. They went on to defeat Castlegar in the first round of playoffs in an exciting six-game series before falling to the Beaver Valley Nitehawks in five.

Olauson was selected by his peers as both the Neil Murdoch division and KIJHL Coach of the Year.

Following the election of a new board of directors at the Bruins’ annual general meeting on April 8, President Dan Koftinoff said that resigning the coach was the first priority of the incoming board. “We recognized that there was a risk that other opportunities would present themselves to the coach if we didn’t act quickly. We feel that there’s plenty of room to advance the team, and based on last year’s performance that Emery is the man we wanted to lead the way.

“Talks began within days of the AGM, and we’re very happy that the final terms were agreed to over the weekend. Having a multi-year deal in place gives some stability to the whole organization, and we think that stability will also help immensely with recruiting players for upcoming seasons.” Preparations are already underway for a spring camp in Cochrane, Alta June 3-5.

The Grand Forks Border Bruins (www.borderbruins.ca) are a community-owned Junior B hockey club. The team was an inaugural member of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League, and has played in more KIJHL seasons than any other team, having missed only two seasons since 1969. Contact Dan Koftinoff at 250-442-1201, or dankoftinoff@telus.net, for further information.